You may read the
Table of Contents and the first few pages of this book at the
Amazon page at http://snipurl.com/18ik3. Of course you may buy the book there as
well!

In this issue I want to
say a few words about this book and give some excerpts.

This is a short book of
under a hundred pages. The book is concise and packed with
illustrations, stories, and exercises to help get the
points across. Breezy and usable, it is one of the best
introductory books in mainstream nonduality. This book is a very
accessible remedy to the gnawing intuition that there is
something other than, something beyond an existence in which
people struggle and suffer and chalk it up to life.

The subtitle,
"Turning Toward Enlightenment," expresses the idea
of the book. We can turn. We can see things in a new way. This
new way will help us develop the intuition that there is
"something" more, more real than the life most people
call "reality."

So how does Crowley go
about getting the reader to turn toward enlightenment? He
starts with neurology and shows that there is no conscious will
and therefore no suffering. In other words, he shows that
you are not. That's the first half of the book. In the second
half he takes what's left, which is "what is," and
shows how to live in the this-here-now.

But you have to read his
words to see how beautifully he talks about this stuff. Here's an
excerpt:

Jolly Charlie's AmusmentPark
... had a great ride when I was a little boy. It consisted of a
series of little boats attached to a track that ran beneath the
water. Although the path of the boats was predetermined, we were
all completely fixated on steering our boats. We madly turned the
steering wheel to avoid crashing into the stationary buoys that
appeared in our path and were so pleased with ourselves as we
barely escaped disaster. We had a fantastic time waving to the
parents each time we would pass. What could be more fun at that
age than captaining a boat?

Of course, for the
adults, the boat ride was a completely different experience. The
adults understood that the steering of the boats was all an
illusion. They could not step back into the dream of a small
child. Seeing through the dream forever changes the dream. Yet,
the adults did not go out of their way to ruin the illusion for
their children. There came a time in life in the natural course
of events when the child had enough life experience to understand
the illusion. With understanding, the child became an adult.

Similarly, the
"ride" of a body with conscious will is nothing more
than an illusion, a childlike fantasy. Once this understanding
occurs, everything is different. Yet, everything also remains the
same. The body is still on this ride of life, but with no ability
to consciously steer the boat, we are left as the awareness of
the ride. We are left totally free to be the experiencing of each
moment.

Conscious will is nothing
but a false rumor. The false rumor, this nonexistent phantom, has
been causing all your suffering. The illusion of conscious will
is the culprit that holds back your spiritual awakening, but like
all illusions, it is only supported by a lack of investigation
and a desire to believe what is false. Believing in conscious
will is like a child who imagines there is a monster in the
closet. The child is genuinely frightened, but a simple
investigation quickly resolves the problem. Adults just open the
closet door and look.

As a spiritual seeker, it
is your nature to be curious about _what is_. This is
not the case with everyone. Most human beings are fully immersed
in the illusion and do not yearn to understand it. Your curiosity
has brought you to a precipice. There is now only one question:
Is there a desire to look over the edge?

"Come to the
edge," he said.

"But Master, there
is much we still do not know."

"Come to the
edge," he said.

"But Master, we
require more practice."

"Come to the
edge," he said as he pointed, "And just look."

They looked... They
understood... They flew.

By investigating the
illusion of conscious will, the following becomes clear:

-No conscious will was
involved in choosing the body's inherited neurology. No conscious
will was involved in how that inherited neurology fired and wired
itself together as it encountered life situations.

-Interpretations and
perceptions of life occur due to the pre-conscious funneling,
filtering, and tunneling of neurological input over which there
is not conscious control.

-Based on the limited
options determined by our pre-conscious neurological mechanisms,
certain thoughts, feelings, and reactions are selected to be
consciously experienced. The conscious mind then takes ownership
for the experiences it subsequently becomes conscious of, yet
which are not consciously chosen.

-Whatever the
consequences of these pre-conscious interpretations and reactions
to a situation may be, these new effects further condition your
neurology (outside of your conscious control), and the game
continues.

When viewed from this
perspective, can one honestly believe any actions taken are based
on conscious will? In the end, conscious will never was -- it was
all an illusion. It's now time for you to discover how this
illusion causes suffering and to experience the freedom found in _what
is_.

~ ~ ~

This is a good book. It
reads very clearly like that, with many stories and examples
and 8 or so graphics showing optical illusions.